I just wrapped up the Fusion 360 Course on Udemy. It's a great resource if you want to dive into Fusion at a pretty quick pace and come up to speed on how to get the most out of the design program as a woodworker.

Course is on sale for $9.99 for 71 videos and 8.5 hours of instruction You can easily jump around, fast forward or rewind as well as set bookmarks. The instructor is a maker and knows a fair amount about Fusion. I completed the entire course set, though I did fast forward through a few areas that I did not think I'd use that much, but have access to go back. I like the book mark feature so you can set places if you want to go back to a section in the course.

Highly recommended if you want to try Fusion, or if you are moving from SketchUP to Fusion.

BTW, Fusion is a free application that includes CAD, CAM, Rendering, Sculpting and Plan Layout among other features. A product of AutoDesk, if you are a maker, you can get a free subscription for a year at a time and simply renew by confirming you are still a maker. Fusion runs on a Mac, on Windows and they offer apps for your tablet or smartphone for viewing projects you have created. Plus it's cloud based so you can create a design and share a viewable version of the design with a client or associate for viewing within a browser.

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Hey Neil, I’ve been checking out the Fushion software and I’m unable to find that it’s free to a maker. Only a student or a teacher. Otherwise it’s a $400 yearly expense. Can you point me in the right direction. Thanks 🙏 🙏

I've been using it for over a year. As I recall you download it and as a part of registration, they ask if you are a hobbiest (maker) and you can confirm. On your one year anniversary, they send you an email and ask again and you just 're-up'.

It is both a standalone and cloud based. You download the app to your computer but everything syncs to the cloud for collaboration, sharing, backup and all file storage. It does have an 'offline mode' if for example you don't have internet access. But updates, materials, etc all come via the cloud. And rendering of images can either be local or in the cloud if you want a higher quality render.

Fusion has very robust CAM capabilities - 2D, 2.5D, 3D with adaptive clearing as well. It will work with 3, 4 and 5 axis CNC machines. And it also will work with CNC lathes, Plasma tables, 3D printers, etc.

Built into Fusion is what's called a 'post processor' which takes into consideration the specific G-code commands to control a particular company's CNC controller. Fusion has support for Shapeco post-processor built in. Fusion will output G-Code which you can import into any G-code sender like Mach 3 or Mach 4 or the one created by the CNC manufacturer to control a CNC. I use Mach 3 with is probably the most popular CNC control software and never had any issues with it.

Shapeco comes with Carbide Create and Carbide Control. Those are their design and control programs for controlling their CNC. But you can also use Fusion for the creation side and export the GCode which you then import into the Control tool to send to the CNC.

I downloaded Fusion 360 about 15 months ago and tried to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, my 30 day license expired before I was able to figure it out, so I just let it sit. With the new "Maker" yearly license option and the Udemy coursework, I expect the process to be a lot less frustrating.

It seems some operations in F360 are really intuitive while many others are not.

Appreciate the heads up guys! I was using sketchup to learn and design a bed for my daughter that I just made, but I wanted to go beyond the free web version they have. Being just a hobbiest - I could not pay the full featured price and things like printing things out were a pain. I picked up the Fusion class and got all signed up with the software! Thanks guys!

Appreciate the heads up guys! I was using sketchup to learn and design a bed for my daughter that I just made, but I wanted to go beyond the free web version they have. Being just a hobbiest - I could not pay the full featured price and things like printing things out were a pain. I picked up the Fusion class and got all signed up with the software! Thanks guys!

I downloaded the software and installed it. From a video I watched, I should have on the top right the remaining days from the trial and from there I should be able to register as a hobyist. Such remaining days do not appear. I close and re-start it but nothing.

I'm a bit confused here. I don't want to learn/use a software that I will have to pay a 50$/month minimum I rather go with VCarve Pro and pay one time.

I was able to download the application, then go through the dialog under subscribe and get a year license (for free). ......... Should be interesting. I have been using Sketchup, will see which I like better.

The thing I really enjoy about Fusion 360 is the parametric modelling as outlined in that course. By using it, one can automatically have designs adjusted precisely for actual material thicknesses. For instance designing with nominal sheet good thicknesses is quickly recalculated once the actual as-purchased sheet thicknesses are entered as parameters.

I also really like the ability to model animated joints such as moving parts.

I'm finding it reasonably straight forward to use, but it does (for me) have a steeper learning curve than Sketchup which I have used for quite a few years.

I've been using Fusion 360 on their free enthusiast license for around 4 years now, started using it to design for 3D printing, then 2 years ago I got an X-carve CNC, then later got a laser engraver and Fusion now supports that too. I now design my woodworking projects in it as well even though I then enter the piece dimensions in Maxcut to generate a plywood cutting plan.

I like the fact that I can design something in Fusion with components that can be cut by hand, 3D printed, and carved on the CNC. Also a great tool is that I can insert parts directly from the McMaster Carr catalog into my design.

Here's a rendering of the current project I'm building which I designed in Fusion. The casters and adjustable feet you see and some threaded inserts and knobs you don't are inserted from McMaster. The drawer knobs I designed might be 3D printed (or I might just use wooden ones). Most of the rest I cut by hand with the TS55. I ended up cutting the drawer boxes by hand, but could also have cut them on the CNC right from this design.

The parametric design part mentioned above is fantastic. When I was working on the miter saw station design I wasn't sure about some dimensions and thicknesses. The thicknesses I made into design parameters so when I went from 3/4" ply to baltic birch (18mm) I just updated that parameter and various lengths got adjusted automatically. When fairly late in the game I decided to change the overall length of the table which stretched the left side platform, all I had to to was go into the history and change the 2D sketch of the table and the support cabinets got relocated, the top left platform (including the drawer boxes) got stretched accordingly. I will say that getting the design right such that changes like that work smoothly takes LOTS of practice. Every project I do in Fusion challenges me - it has so many capabilities the learning curve never stops.

I just got a 3DConnexion wireless 3D mouse this week to start using with Fusion, people who have them love them for CAD.

I started watching the course, then tried to do the same things using Fusion 360. Crashed every time I tried to add a rectangle. Did some web searching, turns out that my old iMac (2007) only has 256MB of VRAM. Apparently Fusion 360 requires at least 512MB of VRAM. Would have been nice if the software checked this when installing.